Calvert Cliffs State Park

Hello and happy Monday

I am sharing some images from our visit to Calvert Cliffs State Park, located on Maryland's Western Shore. The park has 13 miles of trails, a sandy beach where you can search for fossils, fresh water and tidal marsh lands. The cliffs and shoreline are on the Chesapeake Bay, I enjoyed the views of the bay, a nearby lighthouse, hundreds of dragonflies and turtles. We saw a Belted Kingfisher, frogs, lizards  and the Red-headed Woodpecker.

A wet section of the Red trail  through the marshland to the beach and cliffs.

A Five-lined Skink

A Belted Kingfisher hanging out at the marshland.

Red-headed Woodpecker seen on a dead tree at the marshland.

There were hundreds of waterlilies on the marshes.

Cove Point Lighthouse, Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County Maryland

A view toward the Cliffs at Calvert Cliffs beach.

Me and my shadow hubby!

I was asked a lot on my previous post about beaver and being warned to look for the beaver. The beaver den is right next to the trail. Beavers have been known to attack people if they feel threatened.

I believe this is the Eastern Amberwing dragonfly.

A guide to the Fossils that can be found on the beach at Calvert Cliffs.

Boat with crab  cages?

A look across the bay to Maryland's Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.

A lineup of Terns, possibly Osprey and Cormorants?

Thanks for your visit today!  I hope you enjoyed my post and photos.




Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

I hope to see you there. Thanks to the host today. Enjoy your day and new week.



As always I thank you for stopping by and as always I appreciate your comments.

North Point State Park

I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week, and to save time I am doing one post for all. They are all fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone, including all the Moms of the furbabies. 

Now that the spring/summer birds are returning to the area I have been re-visiting places like this Baltimore County Park called North Point State Park. The Little Blue Herons are seen there along with the Red-headed Woodpeckers and many more birds.

Top row: Little Blue Herons, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Second row: Red-headed woodpecker, Slider turtles. Third row, Snakes and a Chipping Sparrow. Bottom Row, Snapping Turtles, Eastern Towhee and an Osprey.

The Little Blue Heron has always been a favorite of mine, perched on the tree you can not miss the Little Blue's bi-colored bill and maroon head.

The Red-headed Woodpecker is always a treat to see.

We saw a lot of snakes of all sizes sunning themselves. It is the season where all the critters are enjoying the warm sunshine.

Our shadow shot, do you see hubby pointing at the little snapping turtle on the trail?

Turtles, like these Sliders were seen all around the marshland.

We also saw this Osprey from the car, eating something on the ground.

More snakes, can you find two snakes on this tree stump? I hope you enjoyed our walk with the birds and critters.  Thank you for visiting and for the nice comments. As always, thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.


Thanks to Jesh our host for Seasons

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday   last Monday of the month
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

North Point State Park

I have a list below of memes I am joining for this week, and to save time I am doing one post for all. They are all fun memes to participate in...I hope you can join in with the fun  and check out some of the participating posts. Special thanks to all the wonderful host and their memes, I hope you have some time to check them out.

Hello, hubby and I like to visit a local park called North Point State Park. I have posted about our visits to this park numerous times with the Little Blue Herons, Tri-colored Herons, Egrets, Bittern and more. On this day we went mainly to see one of my favorite woodpeckers..the Red-headed Woodpecker.

Groom time, the Red-head woodie trying to look more beautiful.

The Red-headed woodpecker is one of my favorites. But, then again I love all the woodies. The Black Marsh trail area has a lot of dead trees that the woodies love.

One of the views from the Black Marsh Trail, I like the reflections in this shot.

I love the red berries, they really pop in this winter view of the marsh.

Above is a barn and farm near the park, various birds have been spotted on the field, far far away I caught a sighting of a flock of Killdeer and Robins.

Not many barns are found in this area of Baltimore County, I did manage to find just one for Tom's Barn Collective meme.

I counted nine American Robins above, I guess they were finding some good bugs in the ground. I hope you enjoyed the cute woodie and my post. As always, I appreciate the visits and your nice comments.  Have a happy new week ahead!

As always thanks to the wonderful group of hosts listed below.
Thanks to Tom for hosting The Barn Collective

Thanks to Judith our  host of Mosaic Monday
Thanks to Monica for hosting NF Trees

Thanks to Michelle for hosting Nature Notes

Thanks to the hosting team of Our World Tuesday!

Thanks to Stewart for hosting Wild Bird Wednesday

Saturday's Critters #105

Saturday's Critters #105

Happy Saturday, it's time to share your critters and post. Any kind of critter will do, even a new or old post.. I appreciate everyone who is linking in with this week's critter party.

In case there are some bloggers breaking, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy Healthy New Year!


During our good weather times, hubby and I try to take a walk or go somewhere to enjoy the outdoors, birds and nice weather. On this day we went back to the North Point State Park in Baltimore County, Maryland. It was a great spot in the summer to see the Little Blue Herons and on this day we saw the Red-headed woodpeckers.

A mosaic of some of the birds we saw at the park top row: Red-headed Woodpecker, American Goldfinch, Brown Creeper. Second Row: Northern Flicker, Red-bellied Woodpecker, Great Blue Heron. Last row: another Red-headed Woodpecker, Mourning Doves, American Robin.

American Goldfinch on gumball.

Red-headed Woodpecker

On this warm December day we saw a Black Rat snake was on the trail. At least I think it is the Black Rat Snake.

Northern Flicker

Another look at the Red-headed woodpecker on our way back to the car. I hope you enjoyed my birds and critter post.  As always thanks for the visits and the nice comments. I also thank everyone who is linking up and sharing their critters.. Happy Saturday, have a great weekend!

An InLinkz Link-up

To see more beautiful birds and cute critters, check out these two memes below.

Also visit:  I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious host: Anni.  Also check out Camera Critters. Thanks to Misty for hosting this fun meme.

4th blog Anniversary

I am linking up Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-b-birdin I hope you will join in on the fun and share your critters and birds.

It is hard to believe 4 years have passed since I started this blog on July 13, 2009. For my 4th anniversary post I am sharing some photos I posted previously or as near to my blog's previous anniversaries.

 My first post was short and sweet, just talking about the Caribbean cruise we took and it included a photo of one of my trip lifers.. the Brown Booby seen between St Thomas and St John.

Brown Booby seen during a boat ride from St Thomas to St John..July 2009.

  Our first port of call during this Caribbean cruise was San Juan, Puerto Rico. From the fort we could see an iguana on the grass and our ship in the distance.

My 1st blog Anniversary July 2010, I posted about my backyard birds, like the juvenile Redbellied Woodpecker.

Also, in July 2010 a Sandhill Crane was sighted in Elkton Maryland.

 My 2nd Anniversary in July 2011, I was driving around the back roads in Maryland looking for new birds.. On this day I saw the Redheaded woodpecker and.......

another favorite find while driving the back roads was this pretty Eastern Meadowlark another July 2011 bird.

In July 2012, my son and his friends and hubby and I cruised to Bermuda from Baltimore. It was a great trip and most likely the last cruise we will take.

 I loved this beach we visited in Bermuda, the sand, water and sky were beautiful.

 These Bermuda birds are (Long-tail) White-tailed tropicbirds.

Back at home in July 2012 I was posting the juvenile Catbirds in my yard. It is not often I see two catbirds so close together. I believe these were juveniles at the time of the photo. This is not a fancy anniversary post and sorry no giveaways, just a quick look back at previous years post. Thanks for stopping by and I always appreciate my blogging friends following my blog and all your comments over the years.

Besides  these two favorites Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin.
I am sharing some more of my favorite blogs to read and visit. Maybe you might know these bloggers already if not you may enjoy visiting their blogs too.

I think everyone knows Betsy from Tennessee, she blogs about hikes and trips with her hubby George. Betsy also shares her pretty gardens and flowers.

I love to travel and this blog makes it easy to travel to Australia by visiting Red from Oz. She shares awesome scenery and reports on her own travels in OZ the land down under.

To see some awesome photography you should definitely visit  Brian King Photography. You will see beautiful birds, flowers and more.

If you have a birding blog I am sure you know Stewart with his Wild Bird Wednesday blog but
Stewart from Australia has two blogs. On this blog Stewart shares more stories about his life and birding trips.

Last but not least, if you are addicted to birds like I am you should check out Kathie's birds . Kathie lives in Arizona and does some great reporting on the Arizona birds.

I hope if you have time click on my links and visit with my blogging friends and their blogs.

 I wish everyone a happy weekend.

 To see more beautiful photos and cute critters

 please visit:  Camera Critters and I'd-Rather-B-Birdin. Thanks to the gracious hosts Misty Dawn of Camera Critters and to Anni of I'd Rather-B-birdin.

Birding the back roads

I am linking up with Camera Critters

I have been enjoy listening to the Great Blue Herons and their babies from my deck. The adult Great Blue Heron comes back to the nest and the babies go beserk and sound like they are fighting over the food. I linked up my you tube video. My neighbors thought they were some wild animals in the woods fighting. You have to listen for yourself to actually hear the noises and sounds coming from these heron babies.

Great Blue heron nest


Last weekend after listening to my herons in the morning at home and then hiking at the Catoctin National Park I decided to take the back roads home to look for Dickcissels reportedly seen in the area. I missed seeing the Dickcissel hopefully someday soon but I did see a Redheaded Woodpecker, Eastern Kingbird and a beautiful Eastern Meadowlark.

I was a happy birder to see the Meadowlark. It had been over 20 years since seeing my first Meadowlark. My first Meadowlark sighting was seen over 20 years ago on a farm right down my street. It is a beautiful bird and has a lovely song. I have never seen them again on my street and last weekend was my second sighting of the Eastern Meadowlark in Maryland.

This beautiful bird inhabits open areas such as meadows, prairies, farms and grasslands. It can often be found singing from a fence post while searching for insects. It is sad to see that development of farmland means a loss of habitat for the Meadowlark.

The next bird we saw while on the back road was the Redheaded Woodpecker.  I knew this bird was being seen in the area after reading my listserve emails. It is one of my favorite woodpeckers.

The Eastern Kingbird was another bird I saw perched on a wire over the road. I usually can tell a kingbird by the white on the bottom of their tails.

To see more wonderful and cute critters please visit Misty Dawn's Camera Critters

Thanks to Misty Dawn for hosting the Camera Critters meme and thanks for stopping by to see my post. I hope you enjoyed my birds and I hope everyone has a great weekend and happy birding.

Woodpeckers for Bird Photography Weekly

Woodpeckers

Woodpeckers are another of my favorite birds. I am lucky to see the Pileated, Hairy, Downy and the Redbellied Woodpeckers in my yard and neighborhood. I also see the Northern Flicker and in the winter time the YellowBellied Sapsucker. The Redheaded woodpecker I have to travel to see, I am envious of my sister who has them visit her yard and lives just miles to the north. At least I can see them and I did get to see some great Redheaded woodie sightings at the JugBay Sanctuary.


                                      Yellowbellied Sapsucker

Male RedBellied Woodpecker

Redheaded Woodpeckers

For more great bird photo click on my link for bird photography weekly 65

or the

The Friday Ark

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